120 Old-Fashioned Boy Names Making a Comeback

There's a rule of thumb in naming that holds up remarkably well: a name has to feel properly old before it can feel new. Your parents' generation sounds dated. Your grandparents' sounds neutral. Your great-grandparents' sounds charming.

Which is why Arthur, Theodore and Oscar are everywhere in playgrounds now, and why Gary and Kevin will get their turn in about forty years. Below: 120 old-fashioned boy names, sorted by how far along the comeback they are — so you can pick a revival or get ahead of one.

Already back (expect to meet others)

1. Arthur — Celtic, "bear"
2. Theodore — Greek, "gift of God"
3. Henry — Germanic, "home ruler"
4. Oscar — Irish/Norse, "friend of deer" or "spear of the gods"
5. Felix — Latin, "lucky, successful"
6. Hugo — Germanic, "mind, intellect"
7. Arlo — uncertain origin, revived from near-obscurity
8. Jasper — Persian, "treasurer"
9. Louis — Germanic, "renowned warrior"
10. Albert — Germanic, "noble, bright"
11. Walter — Germanic, "ruler of the army"
12. Edward — Old English, "wealthy guardian"
13. Frederick — Germanic, "peaceful ruler"
14. George — Greek, "farmer"
15. Alfie — diminutive of Alfred, revived on its own
16. Stanley — Old English, "stony meadow"
17. Reuben — Hebrew, "behold, a son"
18. Ezra — Hebrew, "help"
19. Silas — Latin, "of the forest"
20. Elias — Greek form of Elijah

Rising now (the sweet spot)

21. Ambrose — Greek, "immortal"
22. Barnaby — Aramaic, "son of consolation"
23. Wilfred — Old English, "desiring peace"
24. Alfred — Old English, "wise counsel"
25. Rupert — Germanic, "bright fame"
26. Percy — French place name, short for Percival
27. Cormac — Irish, "charioteer"
28. Otto — Germanic, "wealth"
29. Ivor — Norse, "archer"
30. Clement — Latin, "merciful"
31. Cyrus — Persian, "sun"
32. Laurence — Latin, "from Laurentum"
33. Rufus — Latin, "red-haired"
34. Hector — Greek, "holding fast"
35. Abel — Hebrew, "breath"
36. Malachy — Hebrew, "my messenger"
37. Solomon — Hebrew, "peace"
38. Gilbert — Germanic, "bright pledge"
39. Humphrey — Germanic, "peaceful warrior"
40. Edmund — Old English, "wealthy protector"

Still undiscovered (get in early)

41. Cornelius — Latin, "horn"
42. Percival — French, Arthurian knight
43. Bartholomew — Aramaic, "son of the furrow"
44. Horace — Latin, "timekeeper"
45. Mortimer — French, "still water"
46. Reginald — Germanic, "counsel power"
47. Leopold — Germanic, "bold people"
48. Archibald — Germanic, "genuine and bold"
49. Sylvester — Latin, "of the forest"
50. Ignatius — Latin, "fiery"
51. Thaddeus — Aramaic, "courageous heart"
52. Wendell — Germanic, "wanderer"
53. Herbert — Germanic, "bright army"
54. Norman — Germanic, "northman"
55. Clarence — Latin, "bright"
56. Bertram — Germanic, "bright raven"
57. Aloysius — Latin form of Louis
58. Ezekiel — Hebrew, "God strengthens"
59. Obadiah — Hebrew, "servant of God"
60. Peregrine — Latin, "traveller"

Grandpa names with charm

61. Arthur (see #1) — the archetype
62. Ernest — Germanic, "serious, resolute"
63. Harold — Norse, "army ruler"
64. Vernon — French, "alder grove"
65. Chester — Latin, "fortress"
66. Raymond — Germanic, "wise protector"
67. Leonard — Germanic, "brave lion"
68. Roland — Germanic, "famous land"
69. Sidney — English place name
70. Wallace — Scottish, "foreigner, Welshman"
71. Clifford — Old English, "ford by a cliff"
72. Milton — Old English, "mill town"
73. Homer — Greek, "pledge, hostage"
74. Virgil — Latin, the poet's name
75. Emmett — Germanic, "universal"
76. Roscoe — Norse, "deer forest"
77. Ellis — Welsh form of Elijah
78. Harvey — Breton, "battle worthy"
79. Marvin — Welsh, "sea friend"
80. Alvin — Old English, "noble friend"

Biblical and old-testament

81. Elias (see #20)
82. Isaiah — Hebrew, "God is salvation"
83. Jeremiah — Hebrew, "God will exalt"
84. Josiah — Hebrew, "God supports"
85. Amos — Hebrew, "carried"
86. Enoch — Hebrew, "dedicated"
87. Moses — Hebrew, "drawn out of the water"
88. Gideon — Hebrew, "mighty warrior"
89. Levi — Hebrew, "joined"
90. Asa — Hebrew, "physician, healer"
91. Boaz — Hebrew, "swiftness"
92. Jonah — Hebrew, "dove"
93. Micah — Hebrew, "who is like God"
94. Tobias — Hebrew, "God is good"
95. Zachariah — Hebrew, "the Lord has remembered"

Short vintage names

96. Ned — diminutive of Edward
97. Gus — diminutive of Augustus
98. Sid — diminutive of Sidney
99. Bert — diminutive of Albert
100. Wes — diminutive of Wesley
101. Cy — diminutive of Cyrus
102. Hal — diminutive of Henry
103. Mac — Scottish, "son of"
104. Roy — French, "king"
105. Dot — rare, from Dorset place names
106. Abe — diminutive of Abraham
107. Sol — diminutive of Solomon
108. Vic — diminutive of Victor
109. Art — diminutive of Arthur
110. Ike — diminutive of Isaac

Still waiting their turn

Give these another twenty years — they're in the dated phase now, which is exactly what Arthur sounded like in 1995.

111. Gary — Germanic, "spear"
112. Kevin — Irish, "handsome birth"
113. Trevor — Welsh, "large settlement"
114. Neil — Irish, "champion"
115. Barry — Irish, "fair-haired"
116. Dean — Old English, "valley"
117. Craig — Scottish, "rock"
118. Wayne — Old English, "wagon maker"
119. Keith — Scottish, "wood"
120. Glenn — Scottish, "valley"

How to pick a vintage name without picking the vintage name

The revival names are revived for everyone at once — if you love Arthur, you'll meet three more in the nursery. That's fine if the name is genuinely the one. If it isn't, look one shelf along: the "still undiscovered" group above has the same texture and none of the crowding, and in ten years it'll be the group everyone means when they say old-fashioned names are back.

More lists: 150 strong boy names and 110 classic boy names.